The Reading Challenge Group discussion

I'm not sure how many Muslims there are in this group, but even if you aren't one, feel free to join us! Ramadan is from today (June 18) until approximately July 17. Let's see how many Islamic knowledge books we can read. Don't forget to learn from them as well! Some people say quality over quantity, I say why not quality AND quantity? :D

Great idea, Sarabi! Thanks for setting this up.

Do you have any suggestions for Ramadan related or Islamic knowledge books.

I'm going to do a bit of housekeeping and move the thread from the 'general' folder to the Mini-Challenge Folder. GR automatically houses threads in 'general' if otherwise unspecified.

Alright, thank you Renee!

As for suggestions:
-Al-Ghazali is held in very high regard in the Muslim community (I'm currently reading a translation of his "Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship" and I'll read his "Alchemy of Happiness" next- apparently his chapter on women and marriage is frightening)

-Read the Quran! Quran.com hosts a number of translations, but if you prefer a paper book I suggest the Sahih International or Yusuf Ali translations

-Reza Aslan is a Muslim academic and writer (you may have heard of him, he's on CNN from to time) with somewhat controversial views.

-Hadith books are the second holiest set of books. Sahih Muslim, Sahih Bukhari, and 40 Hadith Qudsi are the most trusted (I warn you, they're long)

-Rumi was a Persian poet and scholar. His poetry isn't related exclusively to Islamic law, but he's still held in high esteem.


That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but I think it's a good list to get started :)

Wonderful. Thank you. Your list will give people a place to start. :)

I've read some of the poetry of Rumi. It's very beautiful. Also, some of The Gift by Hafiz. I can recommend either poet.

Renee wrote: "Great idea, Sarabi! Thanks for setting this up.

Do you have any suggestions for Ramadan related or Islamic knowledge books."

How about the Bible?

I don't know. I think Christianity, Judaism, and Muslims share certain Old Testament stories but I'm not sure how many (if any) of the books cross over. It might only be Genesis or even just part of it.

They aren't Islamic knowledge books, but do Khaled Hosseini novels featuring Islamic tradition and recent history work?

Megan I loooove Khaled Hosseini. Kite Runner actually mentions Eid, the festival at the end of Ramadan. :)

Generally Muslims don't read the Bible (I've read it because it's pretty hard to escape Christianity in America) but we do believe Jesus is a prophet (just not THE prophet) and there's a lot of crossover (Moses was also Allah's prophet, Gabriel is his angel, etc) while I wouldn't consider it an Islamic knowledge book, I can't discourage reading the Bible.

Hi everyone! The 7th day of Ramadan just ended (in my time zone anyway) which means we're already 1/4 of the way into this challenge. To be honest, I can already tell I set my aspirations high, haha. I've been keeping pace with the Quran (I'm on page 162) and I'm almost done with the Muhtar Holland translation of Al-Ghazali's Inner Dimensions of Islamic Worship (I'm on page 121). While I don't like the wording of the translation- it feels a bit archaic in structure sometimes- the ideas are quite insightful.

I'd love to discuss either of these with you all!

I am reading The Storyteller's Granddaughter at the moment. It mentions some things about Islam and also writers like Yunus Emre or Mevlana Jalal al Din RUmi.

Oooh that sounds interesting! I'll check it out. I finished Inner Dimension and now I'm on to Ghazali's The Alchemy of Happiness.

Finally finished Ghazali and debating starting another book. I've got my eye on Reza Aslan's No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam, but I might save it as a treat for completing a project or something in the Fall. There are 8/9 days (depending on which country's moon you prefer) left in Ramadan!